fixpafandomcom-20200216-history
Talk:Mark Rauterkus
History First person: Nutshell assumptions concerning 2001: * I got creamed in Shadyside. That's Roddey land. There is a GOP community there. They got the word out to vote for James Carmine. That's what happened. Carmine had run in 2000 for state rep vs. Doyle. Got tossed to the wolves. Was due some support -- or at least a vote. He had been more loyal than me in their clique, for sure. * Throughout the rest of the city, we were nip and tuck. : I did well in Westwood, home to some cousins of mine. I did well in Crmine's own neighborhood, (snicker). And, in my neighborhood -- where there are hardly two Republicans -- I did well. * Only 100 or so voters had clues as to the distinctions for the two of us. :Some picked my "German name" some went with his "Italian name." Looking back I wonder if the Shadyside group had second thoughts? Would they re-consider now that they saw what type of attack was forthcoming from Carmine and his overall appeal throughout the city? Few gains were obtained for the side of opposition in 2001's general election. Made my heart sink too. Would-a I would have been far more hyper had I gotten the GOP vote and nomination. I had ten confirmed interns slated to work the general election campaign. A couple had worked in the city in the primary. In the primary season, I was doing much more outreach beyond the ranks of the GOPers. That would have helped to set the stage for the general election. To win the primary, I should have called, with a lazer dialer, the GOP super voters, personally. Five to ten a day would have gone a long way. Hindsight. Links * Historic preservation I'm more known today. I've stayed active in most circles. RAW Q Why don't you just list four things that you would do as mayor and get it over with? A Then I'd get four votes. Then I'd be sure to loose. Ten months before the election is time to write a 200-page political platform document. Then we'll be able to pick the best four points, from a range of many, to move into the brochures and postcards. More Raw Questions from Wiki visitor :In due time? Don't you think the time is now? The city's bond rating is now BB (I think). The city has too big a payroll for a city of 327,000 people. Isn't ACT 47 a system wide reform that is happening right now? Didn't the State of Pa. put this board into place to help Pittsburgh get out of the red and become fiscally responsible? Pennsylvania gave Pittsburgh two oversight boards to serve as watchdogs and hyped up roles of Oversight Lords. These guys are here to watch the purse strings. The state needs to see more signatures on the checks that the city issues before the city's money is spent. They are here to watch, witness and object to spending. This oversight is much like those black domes built into the ceilings in the casinos in Las Vegas and Atlantic City. Plus, these oversight members get to open up the purse and look inside. They can judge how much money is there now, how much is to arrive, and how much is promised into the future. Pittsburgh's debt quagmire isn't well understood. Pittsburgh's cash flow is complicated. The reports from different offices within the city are seldom in agreement. The controller, city council's budget office and the mayor's finance department are often at odds with the others. There is little consensus and trust. We need to get to the bottom of this and the oversight's first mission has been fact finding and research. As the reports from the oversight boards come out, then more disagreement enters. The citizens as well as those in Harrisburg have been hearing cries of help for years. The boy who cried "wolf" too many times is none other than Tom Murphy and perhaps his cheerleaders on City Council. The state needs the oversight groups to look over our shoulders and make sure Tom Murphy and City Council put the brakes on spending. The state needs the oversight groups to monitor all lof the city's transactions so it can come to grips with the actual financial conditions in terms of debt, cash-flow, income trends, expense categories, and more. The oversight boards can not fix Pittsburgh's woes. Perhaps they are here to understand them, report on their findings and to offer first aid so as to stop the massive bleeding. The oversight boards are for oversight and not for making an overhaul. The overhaul is yet to come. Some elements of the overhaul needs to go back to the state house, state senate and the governor. Other elements of the overhaul have to come from within. You could call for an "OVERHAUL BOARD" that would take the positive input of the oversight boards and drive them deeply into the city bureaucracy. And you are the man to lead this initiative. The oversight boards are doing their job. But in order to return Pittsburgh to health, we need to go further. We need an OVERHAUL BOARD. I am going to clean up this city, but I will use a shovel, not a broom! Pittsburgh's real reform should come from within. Pittsburgh needs to fix itself. Pittsburgh can't be put into the role of the continual beggar. Our destiny needs to reside on our shoulders. Pittsburgh should not be a slave of Harrisburg. Pittsburgh should be a leader among cities and a place that sets the trends in good government. Tom Murphy's Mayor's budget address on November 8, 2004, had a mention of the city getting its house in order. That's spin to some. To me, it is a lie. Pittsburgh needs a mayoral candidate and eventually a mayor that lays out plans for self-reliance and fix itself. Stuck and barely treading water. Moving forward, the city is now without a capital budget. The city is without bond funds to do projects. The engineering department had been using $25-million a year. The CDBG money was more. Now the city can only float. Some of the projects in the pipeline are funded. Most are not. Money has been provided in the past to do federal funding design projects. Supplemental agreements exist for some work yet to come. Walls, steps, and fences are falling into deeper disrepair. Some PA projects exist where the local match could not be obtained, so the city takes a pass on the project. It can't be done. In others, some funds might exist for some design work. However, the constuction bills are not able to be paid. Environmental Services turned it around. The oversight plan asks for 10% to do a privatized pilot program for trash pick-up. Then in three years 33% of the city is to have trash pick-up with privatized workers. Bill Klimovich, operations manager for Environmental Services. William Siess, Assist. Director of Engineering and Construction. Pat Hasset, Planning. State does design. We need to come up with Funding projects were marching along, blindly. Decisions are going to have to be made on The city is the managers of large design projects. Large engineering companies do the design work. We make sure our issues are addressed. Draftsmen used to work in the city. The staff is only engineering managers. 72% of the professional staff is lost because of better job offers and layoffs in August 2003. The middle management people are gone. The support staff is left and not necessary. Landslide problems throughout the city. No funding is in place. Falling walls, street swamped, roads cave in. Rodent control. Matching funds. More * We need people in government that understand: media, internet and content networks. As a former publisher, educator, parent and advocate of open-source software, my insights and skills are going to benefit the industry and the citizens.